Jax stopped abruptly, and that caused the rest of the team to halt. “Let’s take a quick water break.” Everyone pulled out the water bottles they carried in their packs, and Ender, the water elementalist warrior, walked around to each of them.
Jax had explained at the beginning of their journey that having full bottles of water would simply add weight to their packs. Since Ender could pull moisture from the air to fill them, there was no reason to add to their burden by carrying full bottles.
Aston took a small sip from his bottle after Ender had filled it. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to keep it down and didn’t want to push his luck by drinking too much.
“You okay?” Jax asked as he stepped up in front of him.
Aston told him the same thing he’d told Professor Fernis.
“Let me know if it gets worse,” Jax told him.
“I will,” Aston said. Worst-case scenario, Aston would be sent back to Tempest Academy, but that would mean his team had one less person to help them. He didn’t want to leave them, so unless he couldn’t stand any longer, he wasn’t about to be sent home.
After a few minutes more of resting, they started off again. About thirty minutes later, the trees opened up into a circular clearing.
“Welcome to the Devil’s Heart,” Jax said as they stepped out of the cover of the forest.
“I thought you said this portal had not been accessed in a few centuries,” said Rush, one of the air elementalist warriors and soul bonded mate to Brianna, another warrior on Aston’s team.
“As far as I knew, it hadn’t been,” Professor Fernis answered.
“Well, it clearly has,” Brianna said. “The magic here is strong. Someone has used this portal recently.
Jax nodded. “Very recently.”
Aston’s eyes automatically looked up as if a dragon were going to fly overhead at any moment. Dread and excitement filled him all at once. The part of him that craved knowledge wanted to take the risk of being fried like a chicken leg dropped in a hot pot of oil, but the warrior in him recognized that a dragon wasn’t an opponent anyone should be eager to face in battle.
“What do we do now?” Colt, the other Tempest Academy student asked.
Jax took off his pack, set it down, and rested his hands on his hips. “We stand guard and wait to see if whoever opened this portal comes back.”
Aston took a seat on the ground before his exhaustion made him take one involuntarily. He felt a hand on his shoulder before a burst of power flowed into him. Aston looked up and saw Rush, holding hands with his mate, Brianna. They’d both offered him some of their power. “Thank you,” Aston said as he held out his hand to the older warrior. Rush clasped his hand around Aston’s wrist and held it for a heartbeat.
“You’re welcome. That’s what warriors do. We have each other's backs.”
When the soul bonded pair stepped away, Aston took a deep breath. He no longer felt as if he was going to throw up, and he did feel a bit stronger, though the ache in his chest was still there.
His eyes roamed around the clearing, and the hair on the back of his neck rose. Something was watching them, then he mentally revised. Something was watching him. He could feel eyes on him. His heartbeat skipped several times and stuttered as if trying to find a new rhythm, but then it steadied. Aston swore he could feel for a moment a second heartbeat inside of him, but that was impossible.
Just then, Professor Fernis sat down beside him. “I’ve heard through the grapevine that you hold the acquisition of knowledge highly as a virtue. I know quite a bit about dragons, but I’d like to hear what you’ve learned about them.”
Aston’s brow rose. He couldn’t possibly imagine he knew anything that Fernis, the Crimson Academy warfare professor, didn’t already know. Considering warfare was part of his expertise, surely Fernis would have learned everything there was to know about such a dangerous potential foe.
But, needing a distraction, Aston decided to humor the professor. It would pass the time while they waited to see if the beasts of legends were going to be unleashed on earth.
Chapter 15
Crescious muttered under his breath as he appeared on the street in the human town of Salem. He’d seen the name of the town written in the book he’d found in Dolion’s chamber. Also